Rupert Murdoch Media Mogul Case Study

Rupert Murdoch Media Mogul Case Study Since 1952 when Rupert Murdoch inherited two Australian news paper from his father, he started a non-stop career generating growth within the media sector up to the point where the variety of his communication mediums have reached two-thirds of the worlds population. Murdoch has even been accused of monopolistic practices. Criticised by many people but admired by others, his leadership style is matter of analysis as it seems to contradict any Human Resource theory, i.e. the opposite of what is recognised as a good practice. However, his empire is alive and real, News Corporation (News Corp) is the second largest media conglomerate globally just behind The Walt Disney Company. This document will look at insights into Rupert Murdochs behaviour, his learning style as well as his personality characteristics as influencer in his professional development and managerial style. The analysis of competitive advantage for News Corp will be also discussed. From a Human Resource Management (HRM) perspective, News Corps practices need to be analysed in terms of performance appraisal, selection, relationship management, culture and ethics. A further mention with respect to leadership will be made since this is a core aspect that needs to be understood and appreciated. In order to successfully implement changes and improvements in News Corps HRM policy and approaches, improvements and alterations in Murdochs leadership style and approach need to be implemented. Murdochs People Management Style Learning Style and personality characteristics Theoretically, a successful company should have good practices in HRM. Ingham (2007) refers to best practice as an assumption that by doing things in a set best way, any organisation can improve their performance. He also points out that other concepts acknowledge that there is more than one combination of appropriate practices which varies according to context. Through this document, analysis will be made for each aspect as mentioned; linking the personal characteristics of Murdoch with News Corps practices. For years there has been interest in the importance of developing HRM: from hard approaches that looked at employees as a cost to be managed and possibly minimised, to softer approaches looking at employees as investments, valuables and with the capacity to make important contributions to the companys success. For News Corp however, this development has not happened as they are still operating based, clearly, on hard approaches, focusing on the rational management of people as if they were any other factor of production (Ingman, 2007). Murdoch has shaped News Corp and to accurately understand his performance, it is worthwhile to look at him as a CEO but as a person as well. Beyond his managerial and interpersonal skills, or the lack of them, it is undeniable that he has strong business acumen and ability to find new opportunities. For instance, the creation of the first national newspaper in Australia which gave him political clout, and acquisitions of different successful mediums such as Fox tv in the USA or Star Network in Hong Kong .He has been a natural entrepreneur since his youth and some analysts attribute his success to his ability to learn from mistakes, basic rule for a successful management as Templar (2005) highlights. A focused background in the newspaper market, added to his learning style have likely contributed to Murdochs edge. There are many approaches to learning styles by which this could be analysed and understood. One of the most recognised is Kolbs (1984, cited in businessballs) approach, which sets out learning as a cycle and suggests that everybody has a preferred style of learning. HOW TO REFERENCE THIS FRAMEWORK?, I GOT IT FROM: http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm In this framework Murdoch could be described as having an Accommodating Style (combination of feeling and doing). Accommodating people are generalised as those who are hands-on, relying in intuition rather than logic and mainly prefer practical and experiential approaches. According to Kolb, they are persons attracted to new challenges, new experiences and to carrying out plans and setting targets. Murdoch seems to have much of this description. Comparing this description to Felder and Silverman Theory, (1980, cited in mindtools) (Appendix 1) Murdoch seems to be an Active Learner, a person who prefers manipulating, doing and learn by trying. This is a description also confirmed by Honey and Mumford (1982 cited in literature available). Another approach by which Murdoch could be analysed is VAK (Appendix 2), framework in which he can be described as a kinaesthetic person as he has show he enjoy actively doing and experimenting in reality. A combination of his knowledge, learning style and personality, could provide a broad picture to understand his behaviour and motivations. His need for achievement, no matter at what cost, has been clear through this career as a well known risk taker. Murdoch is as well an innovative person who easily incorporated new technologies in his business, as he referred to himself: a catalyst for change. Murdoch has some remarkable characteristics that have led him to achieve his success. He is known for his ever-changing tactics, for exercising control, for his smart mind and acting unlike his competitors. The complexity he has have to cope with in business has led him to think creatively, for instance as it is cited in the case study, when his competitor offered to buy his newspaper he published the opponents offer letter with the headlines Bid for Press Monopoly. As a global figure the press, not just competitors, desire to know his plans and strategies. This has not always been possible since he is considered a very secretive person. His understanding about environmental factors, usually referred at as PESTEL (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) has given him distinct advantages. For instance, he identifies financially profitable markets, technologies than can help his business, despite union protests and legal ways to reduce his costs, for example, setting operations of his companies in fiscal paradises henceforth paying less taxes than most of its biggest competitors. Despite the fact that Murdoch is not known as a good relationship manager, he does know the importance of maintaining specific good relationships, such as political ones. Actually, it is said that he switched his political preferences to favour his business. (Between the Republicans and the Democrats in the USA, and between the Tories and th e Laboritie in the UK). Competitive Advantage From the point of view of business performance, his job as News Corp CEO has been successful. But the issue is how sustainable could the performance be?. Barney (1991, p.99) points out that firms obtain sustained competitive advantages by implementing strategies that exploit their internal strengths, through responding to environmental opportunities, while neutralizing external threats and avoiding internal weaknesses. By delivering the desired content that members (subscription based customers) want, often referred to as populist Murdoch truly has exploited his organisational strengths. As discussed, he often takes external opportunities. It is arguable that beyond neutralizing threats he is his competitors threat and in external issues his political manipulation has helped him significantly. Theoretically speaking, News Corp should have a sustainable competitive advantage. However, the resource-based model (Barney, 1991) suggests that a resource to generate sustainable competitive advantage must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and without strategically equivalent substitutes. Murdochs strategies have been rare to say the least, unexpected in many ways since he has never let anyone else to know about them and imperfectly imitable due to his power and the size of his company which makes for the competitors it difficult to follow him. However, he is wasting the most important resource by ignoring it as an asset: human resource. The size of his company is greater than most in the sector, having 47,300 employees (CNN); but taking into account his leadership style it is hardly a surprise that for him, employees are not a resource nor an asset. Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence is an aspect that have been gaining importance as it has been recognised as a key factor in relationships and leadership. Goleman et al, (2002 p.3) highlight that No matter what leaders set out to do whether its creating strategy or mobilizing teams to action their success depends on how they do it. Even if they get everything else just right, if leaders fail in this primal task of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should. There are four aspects enclosed in Emotional Intelligence, also referred at as Leadership Competences: Self-Awarness, Self-Management, Social-Awarness and Relationship-Management. Self-management clearly is not part of his strengths as he uses to terrorize his employees without stopping and thinking. Social awareness is also missing in his managerial skills as he does not care about what people feel nor try to listening to them. As CEO he is feared rather than respected. His mood and behaviour influenced his treatment toward people. His management of himself and his relationship with people is a clear sign of his poor in emotional intelligence both, in personal and social competence. Relationship management is the result of understanding people and treating them appropriately, according to Bradberry and Greaves (2009); this is clearly a characteristic that Murdoch lacks. In research published in 2005 by Harvard Business Review entitled Heartless Bosses focusing on emotional intelligence, they took a sample from different industries, levels in the organisations and continents. The results showed the lowest average emotional intelligence at CEO level which points out a generalised weakness in this field as a managerial skill. However Murdoch is still an exceptional case. Management Style Murdoch is a recognised manager, who gives results to the shareholders. But analysing in detail, he is managing only the numbers, financial capital ignoring human capital. In this style, some of his approaches are successful while some others are not. For instance, Templar (2005) cites Follow your instinct/ gut instinct and learn from your mistakes as two of the rules of management, but also create a good atmosphere which Murdoch is absolutely not doing. Handy (1995), defines four types of Managers depending on the culture of the organisation: Zeus: The club culture Apollo: The role culture Athena: The task culture Dionysius: The existential culture Murdoch, seems to be a Zeus Manager, a strong leader who likes power and exercises it. However, different to Handys relationship between managerial style and organisational culture, News Corp is better described as a Role Culture or Role Tribe as will be discussed later. To understand why Murdoch share most of his managerial characteristics with Handys Zeus, is worthwhile to look at the following comparison: HOW TO REFERENCE IT:? IT IS FROM THE BOOK GODS OF MANAGEMENT, PAGE 90. DIAGRAM BASED ON KNOW YOUR OWN PERSONALITY EYSENK HR Management in News Corp Performance Appraisal Murdoch is an authoritative person, a control freak, who principally emphasises his employees performance based around his own yield as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). But if someone did not perform as he liked, then they were fired for not meeting his personal standards. Theory highlights that KPI should help to measure performance reflect on organisational goals and evaluate success or progress. These should be quantifiable and periodically assessed. None of these characteristics can be attributed to Murdochs performance analysis. The case study points out that News Corp HR Systems were poor. With very poor performance appraisal systems and with no annual reviews of staff and no process by which talented people could be promoted this reflects a significant and inappropriate lack of development plans. Early in News Corp launch, Murdochs approach to HR could have been acceptable but in todays fast changing environment, employees are more demanding and relevant theory about good HR practices is being championed by companies, making the leadership style that has been used in News Corp potentially not longer sustainable. Recruitment and Selection Academic literature suggests that a core theme in HRM practice is that people are central to the organisation and it should focus on values and the individual. Human resourcing is often described as a strategic activity, where people are an organisations most valuable asset, and represent the long-term future of the company. Murdochs style is not HR focused. However, some of his practices could be in fact matched with successful HR practices, for instance part of his success could be due to the News Corp selection process. He might not have an HR development plan, but what is clear is he has placed the right people in all his companies, perhaps people with the right skills, knowledge and competences that contribute to the strategy of the organisation. For a global company like News Corp, hiring the right people is crucial. From the potential employees point of view it could be desirable to develop a career there, as they can be involved in the glamour of media in a well-recognised company, thus it is likely that qualified professionals are available for the selection process. However, as News Corp has no performance measurements defined, it is difficult to expect that they have a recruitment criteria established based on measurements that they can apply further. Also it could led to think in Golemans (2002) suggestion Just because a particular executive is the most visible, is he the person who actually leads the company? A CEO who heads conglomerate may have no followers to speak of; rather its the division heads who actively lead people and affect profitability most. Relationship management It is also crucial to remember that the establishment of mutually agreed expectations during selection forms part of a psychological contract, which will strongly influence an employees attitudes and feelings about the organisation (Bratton and Gold 2001, p201). Handy (1999) had referred to this as the secret contract. Every time Murdoch disrespects his employees he is breaching this contract, affecting the labour environment and probably the desire of their employees to stay in the company. In the long term this directly affects costs as recruitment is an expensive process which apart from valuable time, includes use of instruments and training costs. Culture and Ethics A remarkable aspect in Murdochs managerial life has been his ability to integrate different cultures of the acquired companies easily into News Corps as the case states. This is not an easy issue but he has managed it successfully. Culture is a very complex matter of study, especially in non-written aspects, such as assumptions, beliefs and values. But News Corps culture is even harder to understand because of its size and unique characteristics. Some aspects of News Corps culture are noticeable, for instance, behaviour in terms of the relationship between management and employee, this includes a clear lack of development and training. According to the literature available, there are 4 types of culture, one of which is control culture, the framework for News Corp, constantly seeking operational excellence. These organisations have a planning discipline, leadership is a function of authority and decision making is directly related to job role. Handy (1995, 1999) lists this culture types as tribes: The club tribe: centralised, surrounded by circles of intimate and influence. The role tribe: organisations are set of roles or job-boxes, joined together in a logical and orderly fashion. Communications are formalised, as are systems and procedures. It is all managed rather than led. (Handy, 1999, p148-149) The task tribe: individuals cab be allocated in different tasks and projects The person tribe: put the person first than the organisations purpose. News Corp, then, is a Role Tribe. Part of culture analysis refers to communication and behaviours. From ethics, a clear dissonance is reflected between what News Corp as a company promotes and the way Murdoch behaves. Ethics is defined as the study of what is right and good in human conduct and the justification of such claims (Lucas et al, 2006) and business ethics as the study of the conduct of people in the business context. The dissonance can be seen through their communication as they have policies about ethics published for all their employees and for the CEO, yet Murdoch has been accused as having downplayed market news and created a monopoly in media all contradicting many of the policies. They also have competition policies, as referred to in their website, but interestingly he changed the prices of his news papers to destroy competition. Some analysts have also questioned behaviours such as supporting George Bush in his war determination arguing a benefit for the economy as oil were down in prices. Literature available, suggests four considerations in describing ethics in an organisational context: Beyond self-interest, universalised, defendable and action-guiding. The actions taken by Murdoch hardly seem to be beyond self-interest and his treatment among employees in not universalised as is influenced by his mood and demeanour, as discussed earlier. Leadership Analysis Leadership Vs management Murdochs leadership style plays an important role in News Corps overall analysis. He has taken the company where it is now but at the same time he has lost the opportunity to create commitment among his employees sharing his vision and engaging them in the process. For the leader who wishes to increase legitimate power, a long term commitment is required. Trust in relationships, which is the foundation of legitimate power, cannot be fabricated ad hoc. (Covey, 1999 p105) Distinctions between management and leadership need to be assessed. Kotter (1996, cited in Bratton and Gold 2001) explained that the main function of managers is to create plans while the main purpose of a leader is to create a shared vision and a strategy to achieve it. Managers control and probelm-solve, leaders, on the other hand, motivate and inspire. A balance is therefore suggested in order to provide effectiveness in a company. The literature available cites that a manager executes a plan and delivers the goals of the business. Is strong in process and systems, producing key results expected by stakeholders. On the other hand a leader is visionary, envisions where the company should be heading and inspires those in the company to make the vision their own. A good leader has excellent people skills, communicating, convincing, persuading, inspiring and motivating. From this perspective, News Corp is suffering from the first of seven chronic problems in organisations cited by Covey (Appendix 3): Problem 1: No shared vision and values: either the organisation has no mission statement or there is no deep understanding of and commitment to the mission at all levels of the organisation (Covey 1999. p 165) Leadership choice Murdoch has been a highly successful manager, but lacks good leadership practice. A simple way to understand Murdochs leadership choice is also given by Covey in his diagram about the Leadership Choice. Power Process YOU Leadership Choice Principle-Centered Power Utility Power Coercive Power Honor Fairness Fear Sustained Proactive Influence Functional Reactive Influence Temporary Reactive Control REFERENCING: PAGE 106. Leadership Style Murdochs leadership choice has been through coercive power. He has created a fear atmosphere where the commitment is superficial. This definition matches with the Commanding Type described by Goleman et al, (2002) who suggest that there are six types of leadership: Visionary Coaching Affiliative. Democrat Pacetting Commanding The Commanding type is considered the least effective, which defines Murdochs style. such leaders demand immediate compliance with orders, but dont bother explaining reasons behind them. If subordinates fail to follow orders, unquestioningly, these leaders resort to threats. Accordingly, performance feedback if given at all- invariably focuses on what people did wrong rather than what they did well. In short, its a classic recipe for dissonance (Goleman et al, 2002, p76). Dissonant leadership is said by Goleman to generate frustration and resentment, all the contrary to the desirable resonant leadership. Those leaders usually focus only in financial goals regardless for the long-term human cost. In the twentieth-century business, companies were mostly hierarchical and control based, just in the era when News Corp started, but now tends are different and the company has not evolved as it should. Media is a highly competitive sector and the challenges are large and significant. Murdoch has had to successfully navigate through technological changes, for example, the threat that the internet provides to printed news, economic changes globally and different business-related crises. From this point of view his style could have been successful although not appropriate. News Corps initial focus was on printed media, but in the present its main companies are television based. His assertive decisions in its core business has given News Corp a penetration of two-thirds of the population, mainly thanks to Star Network (the Hong Kong based satellite network), Fox Channel in the USA, BSkyB in the UK. It is clear that Murdoch is an excellent business men in terms of results, but, how greater could News Corp be is his leadership style were better? Goleman points out how different leaderships affect different factors in companies, such as climate, financial results, return on sales, growth, efficiency and profitability. Results show that, all the thing being equal, leaders who use styles with a positive emotional impact saw decidedly better financial returns than those who did not (p 54) A CEOs behaviour impacts strongly upon employees, as it is said by Goleman et al, (2002, p 76) Given that emotional contagion spreads most readily from the top to down, an intimidating, cold leader contaminates everyones mood, and the quality of the overall climate spirals down. Thus, News Corps employees are not likely to be committed. This could mean they do just the work they are paid for, not doing their best, nor adding value. As part of a role culture (role tribe) people just do their job, neither more, nor less (Handy, 1995) This is a failure in the psychological contract and as they are not receiving what they expect, they do not do their part. On the other hand, News Corp could experience a brain drain, strengthening competitors and making it harder for News Corp to be sustainable. News Corps organisational climate is another HR aspect that is poorly managed, being the representation of the internal environment among members of the organisation, linked to motivational level (Chiavenatto 2001). It seems to be deficient, taking into account the lack of opportunities of self-actualization, the higher step in Maslows (1943) hierarchy of needs and the relationship of Murdoch with his employees. Murdochs style seems to tend towards Taylorism rather than on relevant, contemporary, focused HR practice, as he is interested on the outcome, efficiency of the work and his employees are just a necessary medium. However, even the scientific management method proposed by Taylor (1911, cited in 12manage) gives its place to training and development in its second step which suggests that the company should select, train and develop the most suitable person for each job, again scientifically, rather than passively leaving them to train themselves Recommendations Based on the analysis outlined here for Murdochs leadership style and his management of his people the following key recommendations are suitable: Move to a more collaborative leadership style: it have been established all the implications that the current leadership style has for News Corp. By improving this core point, the company would gain employees commitment and committed employees will not just work flexibly but rather endeavour to succeed but going the extra mile in pursuit of customer service (Lucas et al, 2006) Redefine Key Performance Metrics to include development and relationship with employees. Clear measurements by which employees could be later appraised. Development plans to ensure the permanence of talent in the company and encourage them to feel ownership; The best people in any field -the talented few who contributes greatest business value- simply dont have to put up with the misery perpetuated by a bad boss. And increasingly, they leave for their jobs. People join companies and leave jobs. (Goleman et al, 2002, p 83). Also performance standards that meet organisational and personal goals, which is often know as good development Succession plan: Through development, ensure the continuity of the business once Murdoch retire, improving in HR Management but keeping the financial and business good results. The following leader should have emotional intelligence strengths as well as control capacity to handle a corporation of News Corps size. Goleman (2002, p27) cites intellect alone will not make a leader; leaders execute a vision by motivating, guiding, inspiring, listening, persuading -and most crucially, through creating resonance. Organisation Development: becoming a learning organisation which means going beyond training individuals. Training all levels in a continuous process and adopting new approaches which take into account more people rather than physical assets. Systematic processes for selection and development. Reach a balance between all the stake holders needs. Good HR practices: Establishment and empowerment of an HRM department to ensure the implementation of good practices and moreover, good fit according to the conglomerate and each organisation that composes it. It might be useful an external consultation to evaluate the situation and suggest ways. However, internal participation is crucial as they know more the company and its environment. Creating sustainable change: Leadership need to be shared in different levels. Decentralising power and looking for collaborative leaders among the company, is easier to make a sustainable change. Any change implies consequences, thus it is necessary take into account the following implications that could result of moving forward: Resources: financial and non financial Resistance: to change, from those who are affiliates to Murdochs style Processes: need to be implemented and/or improved in terms of metrics, recruitment, policies. Conclusion No one doubts Murdochs success and it is clear to see that he is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. However, sustainability could be a key issue for News Corp, as he centralise decisions and the organisation is closely tied to him as a person. He is a strong figure and when he has to retire shareholders might experience uncertainty just like is now happening with Apple, which is increasing the risk of lose shares value and company good-will due to the imminent retire of Steve Jobs. When a company is a reflect of its CEO personality and leadership, succession becomes a problem. If systems, practices and policies are not implemented now, the maintenance and future development of the organisation cannot be ensured. Next CEO will not have Murdochs leadership style and will have to seek for more collaborative approaches Contemporary thinking and new HRM approaches strongly point out that people are key; therefore a win-win approach is convenient to News Corp future development. By treating people as a resource is likely to reach their commitment and build a step to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Murdoch have built a successful empire, the issue now is make it sustainable in the long term. If changes in core aspect such a HRM are not made now, it is not probable to happen. REFERENCES Barney, J., 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of management, 17, 99-120. Chiavenatto, I., 2001. Administracion de recursos humanos. 5th ed. Santa fe de Bogota: Mc Graw Hill Handy, Ch. 1999. Inside Organisations. Twenty-one ideas for managers. 2nd ed. London: Penguin Books Handy, Ch. 1995. Gods of Management. The changing work of organisations. London: Arrow Books Limited. Bratton, J., Gold, J. 2001. Human Resource Management. Theory and practice. 2nd ed. New York, N. Y.: Palgrave Bradberry, T. and Greaves, G., 2009. Emotional Intelligence 2.0. San Diego, CA: TalentSmart Ingham, J. 2007. Strategic Human Capital Management. Creating value through people. Oxford UK: Butterworth-Heineman. Covey, S. 1999. Principle-Centered Leadership. London: Simon and Schuster Lucas, R., Lupton, B., Mathieson, H. 2006. Human Resource Management in an international context. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel Develepment. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., McKee, A. 2002. The New Leaders. Transforming the art of leadership into the science of results. Great Britain: Little, Brown. Templar, R. 2005. The Rules of Management. Great Britain: Pearson. Prentice Hall. Kolb, D. 1984. (Online) Experiential learning. Available from: http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm (Acceded 2nd April 2011). Felder, R. and Silverman, L. 1980. (Online) Learning styles. Available from: http://www.mindtools.com/mnemlsty.html (Acceded 2nd April 2011). Fleming, and Mills. 1992. (Online) VARK learning styles. Available from: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=categories (Acceded 2nd April 2011). Taylor, F. 1911. The principles of scientific management. Available from: http://www.12manage.com/methods_taylor_scientific_management.html (Acceded 5th April 2011). CNN (online) http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/snapshots/6213.html (Acceded 15th April 2011). Bradberry, T. 2005. (online) Hearless bosses?. Harvard Business Review. Avaliable from: http://hbr.org/2005/12/heartless-bosses/ar/1 (Acceded 5th April 2011). BIBLIOGRAPHY Barney, J., 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of management, 17, 99-120. Chiavenatto, I., 2001. Administracion de recursos humanos. 5th ed. Santa fe de Bogota: Mc Graw Hill Handy, Ch. 1999. Inside Organisations. Twenty-one ideas for managers. 2nd ed. London: Penguin Books Handy, Ch. 1995. Gods of Management. The canging work of organisation

Bloomberg Company Outline

The company Bloomberg is a privately held financial software, news, and data company. Primarily, Bloomberg is about the access, report, analysis and distribution of the highest quality data, news and analytics, faster and more accurate than any other organization. According to Bloomberg’s official website, â€Å"In 1981 Bloomberg started out with one core belief: that bringing transparency to capital markets through access to information could increase capital flows, produce economic growth and jobs, and significantly reduce the cost of doing business.† The company has been a prodigious success due to its reliability and remarkable adaptation to the ever-changing marketplace, continuous innovation of products, and unparalleled dedication to customer service; which is also why influential decision-makers rely on the company’s reports. The BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL ® service is the core product of Bloomberg and it is the fastest-growing real-time financial informati on network in the world.Generally, Bloomberg provides its clients with a completely packaged Trading System solution that requires minimal hardware, software and support. From the previous enterprise-grade ASP model they had in 1981, today, Bloomberg provides Open Architecture for firms, enabling clients to fully power their systems whilst avoiding the hidden costs and responsibilities associated with infrastructure build-outs, data sourcing, continual tuning, version upgrades, and system maintenance.As an advantage, firms are no longer forced to recover hidden costs by undersizing environments that may lead to changes in trading performance. References LinkedIn Corporation. â€Å"Bloomberg. † Retrieved August 21, 2010 from http://www. linkedin. com/companies/bloomberg Blomberg Finance L. P. â€Å"Bloomberg Trading Systems† Retrieved August 21, 2010 from http://iimagazine. firstlightera. com/ERA/ResourceHandler. ashx? b1d8f3a7-9ed6-4944- 8172-642482129405;trading%20sys tems_london2. pdf

Response Essay: Issues Related to Soft Drinks Essay

This essay is a response to â€Å"Negative health effects of soft drink consumption confirmed in study† written by Jacqueline Weaver (March, 2007). The essay was published to http://www. yale. edu/opa/arc-ybc/v35. n21/story12. html. The main idea of the essay is about issues relating to soft drink consumption. The purpose of the author was to inform readers how soft drinks can affect health and also information regarding false researches and data involving soft drinks. Many people don’t think that soft drinks are that harmful to their body but according to non-funded research soft drinks can be very damaging to human health. As the essay has stated that soft drink consumption has rapidly increased in the United States many people have tried to decrease its distribution, however, there are still many people who protests against this idea (Waever, 2007). In my opinion, I think one of the reasons why people don’t take the risk seriously because of how it looks. Soft drinks don’t seem as life threatening to most people as a big piece of chocolate cake. Advertising is also another factor, most soft drinks advertisement are very friendly and soft drinks company also try to come up with new products to make soft drinks seem healthier. Another reason why people are not worried of health risks related to soft drinks is because of the researches funded by the food industry. â€Å"It is alarming that industry-funded studies so consistently favor industry and that these reports muddy what are otherwise clear waters,† says Kelly D. Brownell. In my opinion I think it is wrong for someone to go though all that trouble of false advertising just because they want to sell a health harming product. Many studies found that soft drinks are related to great caloric intake but most people still choose to consume them because some of them choose to lower their calories in other types of food instead (Waever, 2007). However, food with higher calories might be less harmful than most soft drinks. In my own knowledge I have learnt that soft drinks can cause obesity and can lead to heart problems, diabetes and other serious illness. I completely agree with the author because I personally do not drink soft drinks and not because of just its health risks but because I have no appeal to its taste. Many help problems are caused by soft drinks and unhealthy food, however, there are also many ways to decrease the risks. One of the prevention is stated in the essay, which is to eliminate or decrease the distribution of soft drinks at schools (Waever, 2007). I personally think that this is a great idea because most people who consume soft drinks in their adult life are brought up with it. Consequently consuming soft drinks regularly becomes a habit. As I have stated in my essay earlier that I do not consume soft drink and I think that the reason for that is because when I was growing up my parents have never stocked soft drinks in the fridge therefore I would always drink juice and healthier drinks. As a result I have no appeal to soft drinks at all. There are also many other ways to prevent health issues relating to soft drinks but the most important and the easiest way relies on soft drink consumers. This is because all the researches and proves in the world is not going to change the way one think only the consumer can change their own mind. In conclusion, as the author has informed us that there are great health risks revolving soft drinks along with many conspiracy in health researches (Waever, 2007). Therefore, it is our job to look after our self. People have to be more careful about their food intake and eating habits. The government also needs to help promote healthy eating and lower prices of healthy food and maybe increase the price of unhealthy food. After the help of many hands I’m sure that health problems caused by food will rapidly lessen.

La Llegada Del Cristianismo

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2120 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Analytics Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Sus comienzos, Edad Media   y su impacto en la filosofà ­a Al abordar este tema, pretendo hacer un pequeà ±o anà ¡lisis de la llegada del cristianismo, y de cà ³mo, este nuevo movimiento, afecto la vida filosà ³fica de la à ©poca. Tratando de vislumbrar, a mi parecer, cuales son los valores finales a los que arriba el cristianismo desde el punto de vista institucional. El Cristianismo nace en Palestina, geogrà ¡ficamente ubicada entre Asia y à frica. Los judà ­os eran un   pueblo monoteà ­sta, unidos a Yahvà © por una alianza, Antiguo â€Å"Testamento†, del cual surge su ley.   Su religià ³n (fuertemente entrelazada con el derecho) era una religià ³n dura, de un Dios omnipotente, cuyos designios eran inescrutables, aunque fuesen sangrientos, pues su principio bà ¡sico era el del talià ³n. Siendo un pueblo, muchas veces, victima de atropellos, crecià ³ en su seno la idea de la aparicià ³n de un Redentor. Este serà ­a el Mesà ­as, quien vendrà ­a a salvar a los judà ­os. Sin embargo, comienzan a provocar convulsià ³n social aquellos profetas que anuncian su arribo. A su llegada, Jesucristo declara que no viene a abolir la ley de los profetas, sino que su funcià ³n serà ¡ la de flexibilizar la ley Mosaica, la cual era dura e inflexible. Y plantea la divisià ³n del mundo en dos, la vida Terrenal y la vida Celestial, diciendo: â€Å"Dad al Cesar lo que es del Cesar y a Dios lo que es de Dios†. Frase suscitada a raà ­z de las acusaciones hechas contra à ©l de querer revelarse frente a el Cesar, proclamà ¡ndose Rey de los Judà ­os (â€Å"INRI† iniciales grabadas en la Cruz, a modo de burla, â€Å"Jesà ºs Nazareno rey de los Judà ­os), a lo que à ©l argumenta: â€Å"Mi reino no es de este mundo†. A su vez propone amar a los enemigos, poner la otra mejilla, entregar los bienes que son requeridos, etc. Asà ­ se plantea, en mi   opinià ³n, el predominio del valor amor y humanidad, ejemplificados en la idea del perdà ³n y   el amar incluso al enemi go. Para ese entonces, el Imperio Romano estaba en su mà ¡ximo esplendor, el Derecho Romano estaba prà ¡cticamente elaborado. Los Judà ­os tenà ­an un â€Å"modus vivendi† aceptable. Los grandes filà ³sofos griegos ya habà ­an elaborado su doctrina. Pero para el Cristianismo primitivo estos fenà ³menos no tienen relevancia, lo que genera nuevamente gran convulsià ³n social. En sus comienzos le interesa poco la reflexià ³n Filosà ³fica, y centra su interà ©s en la à ©tica. Se suscitan tensiones entre la Filosofà ­a y la Religià ³n, el Derecho y la cultura, principalmente entre el Concilio de Nicea (donde se proclama a Jesucristo como Dios-Hijo, el Dios de los Judà ­o deja de ser abstracto) y la muerte de Santo Tomas de Aquino en 1274. (v. Miguel à ngel Ciuro Caldani â€Å"Lecciones de Filosofà ­a del Derecho Privado†). Las tensiones tambià ©n se hicieron presentes dentro de los primeros cristianos. Es asà ­ como se contraponen las figuras de San Pedro (c.10 a.J.C. 64 d.J.C), quien asigna a la religià ³n una visià ³n mà ¡s judaizante, y San Pablo (m.c 67 d.J.C), quien sostuvo el carà ¡cter mà ¡s cosmopolita del cristianismo, partiendo de la fe. Con el desarrollo del Cristianismo, el mensaje dejado por el mesà ­as, a mi parecer, comienza a distorsionarse, incluso en boca de los apà ³stoles que deben comenzar la gran obra de la Iglesia. Podemos citar nuevamente a San Pablo y San Pedro; à ©l primero refiere: â€Å"Que todos se sometan a las autoridades que nos dirigen. Porque no hay autoridad que no venda de Dios†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , a su vez San Pedro (primer Papa) dice: â€Å"Por amor a Dios, someteos a toda autoridad humana†. (M.A.C.C â€Å"Lecciones Historia de la Filosofà ­a del Derecho†). Pues en mi humilde entender son dos frases que distan mucho de lo dicho por Jesà ºs al dar al Cesar lo que es del Cesar, Y a Dios lo que es de Dios. Pues Jesà ºs venia a preparar a los hombres para el mundo Celestial, dejando claro que su reino no es de este mundo, su reino no es Estatal. Es decir, que con la partida del mesà ­as comienza a subvertirse el valor poder por sobre los valores amor y humanidad que contenà ­a el mensaje inicial. El valor poder, gran protagonista de la historia de la humanidad, es el que provoca generalmente las tensiones entre los hombres y sus intereses. Por tal razà ³n los cristianos son victimas de persecuciones, al no querer rendir culto al emperador y este ver amenazada su autoridad por la creencia en alguien que no esta, ni es de este mundo. El fin de las persecuciones contra los cristianos comenzà ³ con un edicto del emperador Galerio (311) y con el â€Å"Edicto de Milà ¡n† promulgado en 313 por el emperador Constantino (c.270-337) y Licinio (c.260-324). Citando al Dr. M.A, Ciuro Caldani â€Å"El Cà ©sar y Jesà ºs, el Estado y la Iglesia, se habà ­an enfrentado y habà ­a triunfado Jesà ºs y su Iglesia†. Aun asà ­ se siguen provocando tensiones, ya que el helenismo no se extingue; es asà ­ como Flavio Claudio Juliano (c.331-363), emperador romano (361-363), sobrino de Constantito, intento restaurar la creencia en los dioses antiguos. Intento que luego de su muerte queda trunco. Los primeros intentos de combinar la Filosofà ­a con el pensamiento cristiano se dan con la Gnosis y la Patrà ­stica. Los gnà ³sticos intentan encuadrar el cristianismo dentro del Platonismo, creando seres para llenar el vacà ­o entre la divinidad y el mundo sensible A ellos se opone la patrà ­stica. Se considera a la Patrà ­stica desde su periodo de apogeo, que va desde el Concilio de Nicea hasta el siglo V. El Dr. Ciuro Caldani, expone que â€Å"la patrà ­stica no es una filosofà ­a sino un movimiento cultural importante para la historia de la filosofà ­a. Que responde a la necesidad de dar una formulacià ³n intelectual a la nueva fe† (Lecciones de la Historia de la Filosofà ­a del Derecho). La figura mà ¡s importante de este movimiento es San Agustà ­n (354-430), quien pertenece temporalmente a la Edad Antigua, pero teà ³ricamente a la Edad Media. El inicio de la Edad Media viene acompaà ±ado de la continuacià ³n de la patrà ­stica. San Agustà ­n, recurrià ³ al filà ³sofo mà ¡s crsitianizable: Platà ³n Asà ­ diferencià ³ el mundo de lo perfecto, que es la ciudad de Dios y el mundo de lo imperfecto que es la cuidad terrena, humana, donde se encuentra el Derecho.   Creo que esta idea se acerca a los dichos de Jesà ºs, siempre y cuando no se confundan en una sola institucià ³n la Iglesia y el Estado, de modo que la   Iglesia quede como la ciudad perfecta, salvando al hombre a travà ©s de sus sacramentos, como sucederà ­a posteriormente, asumiendo la potestad de la vida y la muerte. Los objetos que mà ¡s estudiaba San Agustà ­n son Dios, el alma y la felicidad eterna. La religiosidad parte de la fe. Subordina la Filosofà ­a a la Reli già ³n, pues considera que la primera es à ºtil si no se opone a la verdad revelada por la segunda. El verdadero filà ³sofo ama a dios. Luego de la caà ­da del Imperio Romano de occidente, se produce un retroceso de la cultura. De la crisis cultural surgen instituciones monà ¡sticas. La filosofà ­a se estudia como complemento de la Teologà ­a. Surge la Escolà ¡stica, llamada de tal manera porque se estudiaba en las â€Å"escuelas† en principios conventuales. Trataban de conciliar la fe y la razà ³n y la autoridad y la razà ³n. Tambià ©n comienzan a establecerse las à ³rdenes religiosas, como la de los franciscanos, fundada por San Francisco de Asà ­s. Estos rechazan las riquezas materiales en reaccià ³n ante la nueva realidad que significaba el comienzo de una economà ­a de tipo capitalista. Se inclinan desde el punto de vista filosà ³fico por las enseà ±anzas de San Agustà ­n y Platà ³n. Y la orden de los dominicos, fundada por Santo Domingo de G uzmà ¡n (1221-1170), que se origina con la tarea de combatir el error y la herejà ­a, no solo en la palabra, tambià ©n en la obra. No hay que olvidar que son à ©pocas de grandes tensiones sociales, en las que se persigue la herejà ­a. En el aà ±o 1184, con el Concilio de Verona, se dio nacimiento a la inquisicià ³n medieval. El Concilio de Letrà ¡n, aà ±o 1215, acordà ³ la designacià ³n de jueces pesquisidores (en Inglaterra, en contraposicià ³n, Juan sin tierra debe dar lugar a la Carta Magna) y el Concilio de Tolosa, en el aà ±o 1229, establecià ³ los inquisidores de la Fe, para la lucha contra la herejà ­a. Son tiempos difà ­ciles para una filosofà ­a arriesgada, pues se corre peligro de terminar en la hoguera. La Iglesia parece haber olvidado el mensaje de amor de su fundador, sembrando el terror a travà ©s de la persecucià ³n y de la tortura, principalmente para preservar el poder que ha conseguido. Nuevamente el valor poder se hace presente, en mi humild e opinià ³n, por encima del valor amor, humanidad e incluso el de santidad, que es el valor al que se pretende llegar en la Edad Media. Con San Buenaventura perteneciente a la orden franciscana y Santo Tomas de Aquino de la orden dominicana se produce la sà ­ntesis de los dos pensamientos teolà ³gicos y filosà ³ficos. San Buenaventura concibe la regià ³n en una intima comunià ³n del hombre con Dios, de fraternidad, que se manifiesta a quienes viven en la humildad y en el amor. Para à ©l el filosofà ³ no puede alcanzar la verdad en su plenitud sino apoyado por la luz de la fe. Hace prevalecer la fe y la voluntad por sobre la razà ³n. Las opiniones de base aristototà ©licas le causaban aversià ³n. Para Santo Tomas de Aquino el à ¡mbito entero de la filosofà ­a proviene exclusivamente de la razà ³n y, en cambio, la teologà ­a se basa en la revelacià ³n. A su parecer la ley es una ordenacià ³n de la razà ³n con vista al bien comà ºn promulgada por aquel que tiene el cuidado de la comunidad, la ley no procede da la voluntad sino de la razà ³n. La ley eterna, fuente de la cual derivan las demà ¡s, es la razà ³n de Dios. Para à ©l el poder radica   Ãƒ ºltima y mediatamente en Dios, pero prà ³xima e inmediatamente en la comunidad que lo confà ­a a los gobernantes. A mi entender, aunque revaloriza el Estado terrenal, todavà ­a no lo puede escindir de Dios o de la Iglesia como institucià ³n y asà ­ se busca la manera de conciliar a ambos para coexistir, siendo la Iglesia fundamental para la existencia del estado. De la misma manera se intenta encontrar la armonà ­a entre la teologà ­a y la filosofà ­a. Para el Dr. M.A. Ciuro Caldani, esta es la mayor sà ­ntesis, en la Edad Media, de razà ³n y fe, y de filosofà ­a y teologà ­a. Como se puede observar, en los primeros tiempos del cristianismo la Filosofà ­a es dejada de lado. Con el transcurso del tiempo y en bà ºsqueda de argumentos que sostengan el poder y prot agonismo de la Iglesia, se debe volver a la filosofà ­a. Lo cual no le resta merito. Como sucedià ³ con Aristà ³teles, que dentro de su teorà ­a encontraba fundamento a la esclavitud, y tal aceptacià ³n tenà ­a relacià ³n con el contexto histà ³rico que le tocaba vivir. Del mismo modo, para estos pensadores, el contexto histà ³rico era el de surgimiento y desarrollo del cristianismo y de una Iglesia que se habà ­a convertido en eje central de la vida medieval. Lo reprochable es como niegan la propia fundamentacià ³n del cristianismo, convirtiendo un mensaje de amor y flexibilizacià ³n en una de las mà ¡s espantosas persecuciones de la historia. El valor primordial de la Edad Media es la santidad. Pero como exprese anteriormente, en mi opinià ³n el valor poder, principalmente en la etapa de la inquisicià ³n, se subvierte al   valor santidad. La mayorà ­a de las teorà ­as subordinan el Estado a la Iglesia, la filosofà ­a a la teologà ­a. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "La Llegada Del Cristianismo | Spanish Dissertation" essay for you Create order BIBLIOGRAFIA: MIGUEL à NGEL CIURO CALDANI; Lecciones de la Historia de la Filosofà ­a del Derecho. MIGUEL à NGEL CIURO CALDANI; Lecciones de Filosofà ­a del Derecho Privado. WARNER GOLDSCHMIDT; La Teorà ­a Trialista del Mundo Jurà ­dico y sus Horizontes.